DNA and Genetics

Cell Cignaling and Drug Action: An illustration of the cell signaling process which leads to cell behavior. Growth factors (the blue and purple spheres) bind to certain receiving proteins, called receptors. The receptors relay the growth factor signals into the cell. These signals are further relayed through a large network of proteins by kinases, which eventually changes the activity of genes within the nucleus.

Cell signaling is the process used by cells to communicate with other cells. Signals (hormones, growth factors, calcium, nitric oxide, etc.) originate in a cell, leave, and then enter and are interpreted by another cell.

Influenza A: The virus that causes the flu, influenza A, has a complex lifecycle within our cells. It hijacks our cells machinery to replicate, and assembles itself using our own cell's membrane. After inserting its own proteins into the viral particles surface, it emerges ready to infect the next cell.

This illustration depicts the protein production process in an animal cell, from transcription and translation, to the folding of amino acids into functional proteins.